Banking industry sources noticed fraud among hundreds of cards that had been previously used at Marriott hotels, wrote Krebs, who first reported that Target had suffered a massive data breach around Black Friday last year.

"But those same sources said they were puzzled by the pattern of fraud, because it was seen only at specific Marriott hotels, including locations in Austin, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Louisville and Tampa," Krebs wrote.

"Turns out, the common thread among all of those Marriott locations is that they are managed" by White Lodging, he said.

White Lodging, based in Merrillville, Indiana, issued a statement Monday saying the breach occurred from March 20 to December 16 and affected only people who used their credit cards in the affected hotels' restaurants and bars. The 14 hotels include Marriott, Radisson, Renaissance, Sheraton, Westin and Holiday Inn franchises around the country.

Marriott said it will continue to monitor the situation.

"We are working closely with the franchise management company as they investigate the matter," spokesman Jeff Flaherty said. "Because the suspected breach did not impact any systems that Marriott owns or controls, we do not have additional information to provide."

White Lodging is just the latest American business to investigate a security breach.

The hacking of Target's systems could be the largest breach in U.S. retail history. It affected up to 110 million customers, including 40 million credit and debit cards and up to 70 million customers' personal information.